Grey Literature

Grey literature is material that has the appearance of a scholarly research report or study, but is published by an interest group, think tank, for-profit research organization, government commission, or one of several other influential and ideologically driven organizations. It also includes articles written by scholars that have not yet been published in academic journals.

Author, Audience, Purpose Authors vary considerably. Many are experts and scholars who may or may not be paid for their contributions. Others include paid consultants, government officials/appointees, lobbyists, or organization representatives. Examples The intended audience varies but often • Reports and studies published by the includes policy makers, government Brookings Institute, Heritage Foundation, contractors, and scholars/experts. American Enterprise Institute, RAND The advancement of knowledge about a Corporation, Council on Foreign Relations, topic is usually one of several considerations Cato Institute, ACLU, etc. but in some cases may be subordinated to • Government reports on original research and ideological, political, or institutional reviews of scholarly literature objectives. • Pre-print manuscripts of ongoing scholarly research Reliability • Reports published by intergovernmental Some grey literature sources go through a bodies like the UN, WTO, World Bank, IMF, peer review process, but the quality of this or IPCC process is sometimes diminished when those reviewing articles have homogeneous interests. Others have an editorial board and/or official process of approval, but in these cases findings which go against the interests of the funding/publishing organization may be suppressed.

Uses in the Research Process Grey literature sources are often well documented with a literature review and extensive context. Material published by think tanks, NGOs, and government commissions are of high quality, but still require a vigilant, critical eye. Often it represents a single perspective that is narrowly circumscribed by an institutional context or by an ideological orientation. Any evidence drawn from such sources will need to be put into context by discussing the stake that the funding/publishing organization has in the findings. Pre-print manuscripts may be very similar to articles from scholarly journals, but keep in mind that these articles have not been peer reviewed yet.

Grey Literature is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Grey Literature

Tips for Identifying Grey Literature First Page • Many grey literature sources include a cover page that identifies the organization sponsoring the report or the entity to which the report was submitted.

Genre • Many grey literature sources will follow How do I Find Grey Literature the genre conventions of scholarly Grey literature frequently appears in Google and literature. Google Scholar searches. It can also be found Language on the websites of sponsoring organizations or government agencies. It might be mentioned in • These sources are often written in popular press articles. Particularly high-profile language specific to scholars and/or reports of this nature will be cited in some professionals in the field. scholarly literature. Editorial Oversight • The kind of review, editorial oversight, or report approve process can usually be determine from indicators in the report itself, on the issuing agency’s or organization’s website, or from Google searches. This information is needed to contextualize the information in the report.

Grey Literature is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.